Search form

CBA Statement on Private Student Loan Performance and the Costs of College

CBA’s President and CEO Richard Hunt issued the following statement in response to the President’s Student Aid Bill of Rights.

“CBA's members are proud to partner with students and their families to achieve the dream of a college education. Private student loans play a small, but important role in the overall marketplace and are performing well, with over 97% of private loan borrowers successfully repaying their loans on-time. Strong underwriting standards, which include the ability to repay, continue to be the strongest consumer protection of all. For the most distressed borrowers, CBA’s members continue to work with the prudential regulators to develop short and long term loan modification programs to provide borrowers with more flexibility, particularly in the early stages of their career. Many have launched loan modification programs, while others are piloting programs in advance of a broader roll-out. These programs are designed to address the unique nature of student loan borrowers within the confines of federally mandated safety and soundness principles, to which our members must adhere.”

“We hope policymakers will continue to address the rising costs of college, as a college education is still a very worthy endeavor.”

The private market represents about 7.5 percent of all loans in repayment, or $91.8 billion. In contrast, the federal lending programs which represent 92.5 percent of the market accounts for $1.12 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt. A recent report by MeasureOne demonstrates the sustained positive performance trends in the private student loan market. Most notably, early stage delinquencies of loans declined to 3 percent, a 20 percent improvement in Q3 2014 compared with Q3 2013 and the annualized charge-off rate for Q3 2014 is only 2.4 percent. The report also highlights other positive private loan performance trends. For more information on the private student loan market please visit PrivateStudentLoanFacts.com.

About CBA
Founded in 1919, the Consumer Bankers Association (CBA) is the trade association for today's leaders in retail banking - banking services geared toward consumers and small businesses. The nation's largest financial institutions, as well as many regional banks, are CBA corporate members, collectively holding well over half of the industry's total assets. CBA’s mission is to preserve and promote the retail banking industry as it strives to fulfill the financial needs of the American consumer and small business.